Sweet Debut for Dunkin’ Brands

The Dunkin’ Brands Group, owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins chains, got a warm reception from investors in its market debut on Wednesday, one of the busiest weeks for public offerings since the financial crisis.

Shares of the company, which were priced at $19 for the offering, opened at $25 and continued to rise, closing up 46.6 percent at $27.85.

At that level, Dunkin’ Brands, which trades on the Nasdaq market under the ticker symbol DNKN, is valued at about $3.5 billion. (Starbucks, in comparison, has a market value of nearly $29.5 billion; Krispy Kreme Doughnuts — a hot I.P.O. in 2000 — has a market value of $570 million.)

In its much-anticipated offering, Dunkin’ Brands sold 22.25 million shares, raising $422.75 million. The underwriters have the option to sell an additional 3.34 million shares, allowing the company to bring in as much as $486.16 million.

It has been an active week for the I.P.O. market. Three companies have priced their offerings, including Dunkin’ Brands. Another seven are set to do so this week, according to Renaissance Capital, an I.P.O. advisory firm, including two more retail companies — Teavana and the Chefs’ Warehouse.

Nasdaq was keen to celebrate the Dunkin’ I.P.O., saying that it was “unofficially changing its name to Nasddaq, incorporating Dunkin’ Donuts’ iconic pink and orange D’s into our traditional logo,” according to Bruce Aust, executive vice president of Nasdaq’s corporate clients group.

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Dunkin’ Brands — owned by a consortium of buyout firms, including Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and THL Partners — is also the latest company backed by private equity to go public this year. Among the earlier I.P.O.’s: Freescale Semiconductor Holdings, the chip maker; the hospital operator HCA; and Nielsen Holdings, the consumer ratings company.

Like many of its private-equity-owned peers, Dunkin’ Brands plans to use the proceeds of its offering to help reduce debt. As of March 26, the company’s debt load stood at $1.89 billion, according to a recent filing.

Over all, Dunkin’ Brands earned $26.9 million last year on revenue of $577.1 million, nearly all from franchising.

Investors in Dunkin’ Brands, in part, are betting on the growth opportunity. Dunkin’ Donuts is mainly concentrated in the eastern United States. In New York and New England, the chain has roughly one location for every 9,700 people.

The company plans to focus its expansion efforts in underpenetrated areas east of the Mississippi River and make “disciplined” moves into the rest of the country. Currently, there is one store for every 1.19 million people in the western United States.

“It’s an expansion story,” said Paul Bard, vice president of research at Renaissance Capital. “The company says it can double the numbers of stores in the United States. You can’t say the same for McDonalds.”

The company’s growth, though, depends more on cappuccinos, Coolattas and coffee than cream-filled doughnuts. In 2010, beverages and coffee beans accounted for 60 percent of sales at the Dunkin’ Donuts chain.